Majority moves to erode mayor's authority

Trio wants to change appointment procedure for deputy mayor

OCEANSIDE  The three-member majority of the Oceanside City Council has moved to further strip Mayor Jim Wood of his authority and place one of their own as deputy mayor for the rest of the year.

Councilmen Gary Felien, Jerry Kern and Jack Feller voted this week to tentatively adopt an ordinance that would remove Wood’s authority to appoint the deputy mayor.

Instead, they would set up a system under which the position is rotated annually among the council members, with Kern moving into the slot for the rest of 2013.

Wood wanted to appoint Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, with whom he is aligned on key issues. She has held the post before, most recently in 2011; Feller was deputy mayor in 2012.

The job is largely ceremonial — the deputy mayor represents the city at official functions and runs City Council meetings in the mayor’s absence.

“I certainly would hope someone taking my place would have similar opinions and philosophical views,” Wood said.

The latest move by the council majority follows earlier council votes to remove Wood as the city’s representative to SANDAG, a regional planning agency, and strip him of the power to appoint the city’s representatives to SANDAG and other regional agencies.

“I don’t agree with it. They’ve taken most of the powers of mayor away from me,” Wood said. “It’s totally wrong.”

A final vote on the ordinance is scheduled for the council’s 4 p.m. Wednesday meeting at City Hall, 300 North Coast Highway.

Kern and Felien said the change is meant to remove politics from the decision.

“I don’t think it means anything other than it’s one less thing for us to fight about,” Kern said.

Felien, who suggested the change, said squabbles over who gets to be deputy mayor predate Wood and the current council.

“This is a controversy that’s been going on and on,” Felien said. “It’s certainly been aggravated by the fact that the mayor is in the minority on the council. If you can get rid of it by making it nonpolitical, why not?”

The mayor now has the authority to appoint the deputy mayor, subject to council approval. Earlier this year, the council majority refused Wood’s appointment of Sanchez, who held the post in 2011. Council policy prohibits one person from serving in the post for more than one year in a row.

Wood appointed Feller to the job last year, a decision he now regrets.

Under a council policy adopted in 2000, when the council is unable to reach agreement on appointing a deputy mayor, the post remains vacant, Assistant City Clerk Holly Trobaugh said.

In that case, the mayor designates someone to represent him in his absence on a case-by-case basis, Trobaugh said.

The new policy would set up a system under which each council member is assigned a number and the job rotates. No council member could serve as deputy mayor during a year in which he or she is up for re-election.

The initial rotation set by the council majority would start with Kern as deputy mayor this year, Sanchez in 2014, Feller in 2015 and Felien in 2016 if he’s re-elected in 2014.